I have been SO excited for my mom and Grandma to come and visit, literally busting. To welcome the two of them I made little gifts for their pillows and included copies of the newspaper Ads was in for the Queens Diamond Jubilee. I have always loved spending time with my mom and grandma and am ready to have a few good belly aching laughs. Great is 82 years old and spent many years watching me when I was little and again watching my Adessa when I was teaching Junior High School. I have always driven Great around, shopped, chatted, and spent a lot of time with her, so when we moved to the UK was a great loss for her and really put a cramp in her style. That is not saying it wasn't for mom, she nearly killed us, but because of Great's age she feared she would never see us again.
My heart was racing when I arrived at the airport to pick up the girls. I saw Great and Gucci sitting on a bench waiting for me and immediately had to wipe the tears away to see where I was walking. No sooner had Great spotted me than she stood up and said "we have a problem!" I was shocked. A problem? "What?" I asked, "well, your mom took 2 sleeping pills on the airplane and she is NOT okay," replied Great. I turned and looked at mom and to this day I will NEVER forget the Cheshire Cat grin she gave me. I could see that the lights were on and nobody was home and from that spot Gucci staggered her way to my car. Needless to say it is amazing that she made it off the plane and that they let her through security. We stopped at a petrol station on the way home to fill her full of Pepsi, which didn't work and then Great and I laughed as she woke up on my sofa 4 different times exclaiming "we're here?" Oh. My. Stars. Mom does not remember ever getting off the plane, going to the gas station, coming to my house or waking up on the sofa......at all. Gucci had decided that the best way for her to deal with the time change would be to take a sleeping pill and sleep the entire flight here, that way she would be adjusted when she arrived. Great idea in theory, but when she didn't feel like the first pill was working she took a second.....and it all went downhill from there. Great said that she and the man she was sitting next to laughed at mom as she ate in her sleep on the plane, which Gucci was not thrilled to hear about. Truth be told, Great and I were really quite worried about her. After a few days she recovered and we began to poke fun at her expense began.
There is a line of facial products here called "Sanctuary Day Spa of Covent Gardens" and they make the best self heating mud mask. So I gave each of the girls one and we did our chick flick and mud mask night.
For Adessa's Birthday Gucci took her to Build a Bear for a magical Birthday experience. Ads loved every minute of it and I will venture to say that it is her favourite Birthday gift to date.
While we were wandering around the shopping centre we happened upon these two lads standing out spraying Lady Ga Ga's new perfume on people. Great was like a lioness praying on two oblivious innocent baby gazelles. She made her move and I captured it on film. A decision she may have come to regret as I had it made into Christmas cards that Gucci sent out to Great's friends with a ribbon across the front saying "Rejoice!" You are probably feeling grateful to NOT be related to me right now.
We popped over to the Tower of London, not to go inside, but to shop in the gift shop. The Tower of London gift shop is probably the best of all London gift shops and we were thrilled to be able to buy English Christmas cider mixes and Christmas ornaments since they had stocked their inventory for the winter.
It may just be the arts lover in me, but a trip to London is not complete without seeing a few musicals. I have been regularly going to the theatre both community and professional since I was Adessa's age. Sometimes I hated it and sometimes I loved it, but it has become very much a part of who I am. Obviously mom and Great are the same and so off we went to see "Ghost" the musical.
Before the show we stopped for a soda and a doughnut. We had made great time and it was pouring down rain so we sat in the shop and made mannequin poses and funny faces through the windows at all the people passing by. I am certain that they thought we were blasted, but we literally can be as obnoxious sober as any human being can be after a few drinks. Some people ignored us and a few interesting and cheeky people posed or made a face back at us.
The show was great! It had great music and the actors were very talented. However, the chemistry between the leads who were played by Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze in the film did not have any real chemistry in the musical, which made me feel a bit deflated. I sat next to two girls who were really nice, but they kept staring at me and were lingering around after the show to chat with me. I have been here in the UK so long now that I forget that I have an accent and always seem a bit surprised when people ask me where I am from and want to chat about home. All of the staring at me felt a bit awkward until one of them told me I looked just like her friend who was a make-up artist in Australia, at this point in time it made sense as to why they kept staring. Nice girls.
On the train home it was very packed so a man sat down next to Great. This man was a cutie and had a strong Irish accent which Great was smitten with. The guy was in his late 40's but was flirting with Great and boy was she soaking it up. He gave her 2 kisses before he left the train and boy oh boy did that give Gucci and me some fodder for the next FOREVER. Great was in heaven. I dare say that Great hasn't had that much action in a couple of decades. What. A. Night!
On the train home it was very packed so a man sat down next to Great. This man was a cutie and had a strong Irish accent which Great was smitten with. The guy was in his late 40's but was flirting with Great and boy was she soaking it up. He gave her 2 kisses before he left the train and boy oh boy did that give Gucci and me some fodder for the next FOREVER. Great was in heaven. I dare say that Great hasn't had that much action in a couple of decades. What. A. Night!
Today I took Gucci and Great to Sally's farm to see all the work they have done and her cute little farm house. I knew that Great would love it because it looks a lot like Hunter when Great was growing up. Just as I had thought, they both loved the farm and we had a lovely afternoon chatting with Sally.
After we picked William up from school we went to Polhill and looked at the Christmas ornaments and had an ice cream cone. My little devil found a little devil mask.
This Yankee Doodle Dandy found a turkey hat before Thanksgiving. Should have bought it, but we didn't.
Tonight was our night to see "Singing in the Rain." I will say that it rained the ENTIRE day and as we walked from Charing Cross to the theatre. We had great seats for the show and even found ourselves wet from the finale when it rained on the stage and the dancers splashed water on the first few rows of the audience.
My clever little girl received a certificate in school today and was also presented her 15 metre swim badge. It was fun having the grandma's present to see her received her awards.
I loved this picture because I feel like it captured a look of how pleased and excited she was to have her family present to see her receive her certificate. This picture reiterates to me how important it is for kids to feel loved and supported by their family.
Mrs. Kenneth the Head Teacher presenting Ads with her certificate.
Ads receiving her swim certificate.
We decided to do a 4 generations picture in the event that Great wouldn't be able to make it back for Adessa's Baptism next year. It is getting much more difficult for Great to travel and it is likely that she will not be able to come, thus we seized our opportunity and had our picture taken.
The grandma's with their babies.
Hugh and Mary came over for dinner and to say goodbye to Gucci and Great.
The girls
The friends
The crazies.
The always important shape picture.
Best friends.
The kiddo's.
Mom approves of my cooking.
We had a great trip and like always it seemed to come to an end WAY to soon. I am really blessed with family that is able to come and visit us. Please mom and Great come again.....sooner than later!
